Arkansas @ Georgia Tech preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 19, 2018 ) Georgia Tech 69, Arkansas 65

Arkansas travels to Georgia Tech on Monday to play its first game this season against a major conference opponent, and the Razorbacks defense will face its first true test after smothering opponents en route to five straight victories. The Razorbacks entered Saturday leading the nation in defending the 3-point shot at 13.6 percent and are second in scoring defense at 47.8 points, but take on a Yellow Jackets squad led by one of the nation’s top scorers.

Georgia Tech sophomore guard Michael Devoe is tied for third in the nation in average, scoring 26 points per game, and he finished with a career-high 34 points and shoot 5-for-7 from 3-point range in Wednesday’s 82-78 loss at Georgia. “I was just being confident, making plays, being the playmaker,” Devoe told reporters after the Yellow Jackets first loss of the season. “I was knocking down shots. I felt pretty good.” The Razorbacks are playing well under first-year coach Eric Musselman, holding South Dakota – the nation’s top 3-point shooting team – to 3-for-12 from long range in Friday’s 77-56 home victory as SMU transfer guard Jimmy Whitt Jr. scored 24 points. “Obviously coming into the game, 3-point defense was really going to be the name of the game,” Musselman told the media postgame. “I thought our guys stepped up to the challenge of defending the 3-point line.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ACC Network

ABOUT ARKANSAS (5-0): The Razorbacks have limited opponents to 33.7 percent shooting from the field (sixth in the country) while forcing opponents into 21 turnovers per game (11th in the nation). Whitt, who started his college career at Arkansas before transferring to SMU before coming back for a second time, is shooting 58.5 percent from the field, and Friday set a school record for most points by a guard in the 3-point era without attempting a shot from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Isaiah Joe only scored five points Friday, but at 17.4 points, shares the team lead in scoring with junior guard Mason Jones.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH (2-1): Devoe is 11-for-15 from 3-point range through three games, and overall is shooting 59.1 percent from the field and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line. Junior point guard Jose Alvarado, who led the Yellow Jackets in scoring (12.5 points), assists (3.4) and steals (1.8) last season, has been hobbled by a right ankle injury that sidelined him for one game and limited him to two points in 17 minutes against Georgia. Senior forward/center James Banks III has blocked 17 shots in three games – six in each of his past two games – and is averaging 11.7 points and 8.3 rebounds.

TIP-INS

1. Georgia Tech junior F Moses Wright finished with 18 points and nine rebounds Wednesday.

2. The Razorbacks are 5-0 for the first time since 2014-15.

3. Alvarado scored 20 points with nine rebounds as Georgia Tech handed Arkansas a 69-65 home defeat on Dec. 19, 2018.

PREDICTION: Arkansas 73, Georgia Tech 62